1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to immunodetection generally, and more particularly to a novel device for protein detecting tests.
2. Description of the Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97-1.99
While the present invention is described in detail with reference to a device for Western blot tests, it will be understood that it is applicable as well to a family of the devices for similar tests.
Detection of proteins immobilized on various matrixes using immunological methods is a widespread procedure both in biomedical research areas and in clinics. A common example of such detection methods is what has become known as the Western blotting procedure, where proteins separated by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis are transferred to an immobilizing matrix for immunodetection. Although conceptually simple, the process of detecting molecules of interest by immunological methods is a tedious and labor-intensive task, involving successive incubation with a series of reagents and washes.
To reduce the “hands-on” time requirements for immunodetection, several instruments have been developed, such as the Western Processor of Bio-Rad Laboratories, and the Hoefer Processor Plus of Amersham Pharmacia Biotech, that automate the time-consuming steps of these routine protocols. In the design of both devices, a rocker platform providing agitation of the blotting reagents and pumps for reagent delivery and discharging of test vessels are used. Pumping of the reagents determines the main drawback of the devices; its structural complexity increases dramatically as the number of test vessels and variability in primary and secondary antibodies increase. For this reason, the number of test vessels in both devices is limited currently by four, and the numbers of used primary and secondary antibodies in both devices are limited by one and one. This strongly limits the capacity of the devices and their abilities to make several tests with different antibodies simultaneously. With other protocols for immunodetection, FLISA or immunocytochemistry, only very expensive robots have been used for automation, and no specialized inexpensive devices for automation have been developed.